Social network system

ABSTRACT

The present invention includes systems and methods for sending social media messages without the need for keyboard inputs. A microphone captures live audio speech data and transmits the audio data to a processing unit. The processing unit converts the audio to speech data. The processing unit also removes censored words, emphasizes key words, and edits that data to include product and promotional messages where appropriate. The processing unit then uses code words contained in the speech data to send the speech data to the appropriate social media outlets for output.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation and claims the priority benefit ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/788,754 filed Jun. 30, 2015, whichclaims the priority benefit of U.S. provisional application No.62/023,355, filed on Jul. 11, 2014, the disclosures of which areincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention is generally related web publishing. Morespecifically, the present invention is related to modifying receivedaudio speech data for automatic text publication on social media.

Description of the Related Art

Players, teams, and businesses currently use social media to increasetheir reach and communicate with fans to promote themselves, theirviews, products, and brands. Social media messages are commonlyintegrated into television broadcasts through commentary or displayedalongside live broadcasts in a portion of the display.

It is difficult, however, for athletes to send messages through socialmedia during the course of a game because athletes do not have free useof their hands. An athlete cannot send, for example, a live commentregarding an event during the game because the athlete cannot leave thegame to send a message through a phone. This limitation makes itdifficult for players, teams, and businesses to fully leverage socialmedia.

There is a need in the art for improved systems and methods fordelivering real-time game commentary from players through social media.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENTLY CLAIMED INVENTION

One exemplary method for sending social media messages describesreceiving audio speech data through one or more microphones. The methodalso describes processing the audio speech data at a processing unit.The processing unit converts the audio speech data to text speech data.The method also describes comparing the text speech data to one or moredatabases. The one or more databases include one or more code words. Themethod also describes sending the processed speech data for outputthrough social media. The processing unit routes text speech data foroutput through social media according to code words included in the textspeech data.

One exemplary system for sending social media messages provides one ormore microphones, a processing unit, and a processor. The one or moremicrophones receive audio speech data through one or more microphones.The processing unit processes the audio speech data and compares thetext speech data to one or more databases. The processing unit convertsthe audio speech data to text speech data. The one or more databasesinclude one or more code words. Execution of instructions stored in thememory by the processor performs a set of operations. The operationsinclude sending the processed speech data for output through a socialmedia interface. The processing unit routes text speech data for outputthrough the social media interface according to code words included inthe text speech data.

One exemplary non-transitory computer-readable storage medium is alsodescribed, the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium havingembodied thereon a program executable by a processor to perform anexemplary method for sending social media messages. The exemplaryprogram method describes receiving audio speech data. The program methodalso describes processing the audio speech data. The program method alsodescribes converting the audio speech data to text speech data. Theprogram method also describes comparing the text speech data to one ormore databases. The one or more databases include one or more codewords. The program method also describes sending the processed speechdata for output through social media. The processing unit routes textspeech data for output through social media according to code wordsincluded in the text speech data.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a system for sending social media messages.

FIG. 2 illustrates database tables in a player data database, acatchword database, and a product insert database.

FIG. 3 illustrates a method for processing speech data.

FIG. 4 illustrates a method for processing text data.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention includes systems and methods for sending socialmedia messages without the need for keyboard inputs. A microphonecaptures live audio speech data and transmits the audio data to aprocessing unit. The processing unit converts the audio to speech data.The processing unit also removes censored words, emphasizes key words,and edits that data to include product and promotional messages whereappropriate. The processing unit then uses code words contained in thespeech data to send the speech data to the appropriate social mediaoutlets for output.

Social messages can be sent from entertainment or cultural events thatare presented at a theatre, gymnasium, stadium, or other facility to agroup of people. Such events include a wide variety of sporting eventssuch as football (American and Global), baseball, basketball, soccer,ice hockey, lacrosse, rugby, cricket, tennis, track and field, golf,cycling, motor sports such as automobile or motorcycle racing, horseracing, Olympic games, and the like; cultural events such as concerts,music festivals, plays, the opera, and the like; religious events; andmore permanent exhibitions such as museum, historic home, and the like.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system 100 for sending social media messages. Thesystem 100 includes a wearable item 105, a processing unit 130, theInternet 195, an internet server 190, and three databases 175, 180, and185. As illustrated in FIG. 1, a microphone 120, radio transmitter 115,and an antenna 110 are connected to the helmet 105. The processing unitincludes a radio receiver 135 and a text processing application 155. Theradio receiver 135 includes an analog-to-digital converter 140 and ameans for receiving one or more channels 145. The text processingapplication 155 includes a speech recognition unit 160, a playeridentification detection unit 165, and a catchword detection unit 170.The three databases 175, 180, and 185 include code words (not shown).

The microphones 120 can be acoustic-to-electric transducers forconverting audio data into an electrical signal. The microphones 120 canbe used with a wireless transmitter. The microphones can be wearable.The radio transmitter 115 is in communication with the microphone 120.The wearable items 105 can be sporting equipment used in the course ofplaying a sport, including protective equipment or non-protectiveequipment. The wearable items 105 can include helmets, protectivepadding, uniforms, jerseys, footwear, eyewear (e.g. glasses, faceshields), or balls (e.g. football, baseball, soccer ball).

The processing unit 130 is in communication with the radio transmitter115 through the antenna 110, wherein the radio transmitter 115 producesa radio transmission 125 for delivery to the processing unit 130. Theprocessing unit 130 can be a personal computer, a desktop computer, or aserver. The radio transmission 125 is a radio frequency signal carryingaudio data. The radio transmitter 115 converts an electrical signal fromthe microphone 120 into a radio signal for transmission to the antenna110. The radio transmitter 115 can be a one-way radio transmitter. Theradio transmitters 115 can include at least one power source, a radiooscillator, a signal modulator, and a radio frequency amplifier. Theradio transmitter 115 can be wireless or wearable. The antenna 110 canconvert an electrical signal into radio waves for transmitting aradio-frequency audio signal. The processing unit is in communicationwith the server 190 through the Internet 195. The system 100 canautomatically publish digital speech data to a website through theInternet 195. The server 190 is connected to the Internet 195 and hostsone or more remotely accessible web pages. The server can publishcontent received via the Internet 195 to social media websites such asTwitter or Facebook. The digital speech data can be representative ofverbal commentary during a sporting event.

The radio receiver sends a digital audio signal 150 to the textprocessing application 155. The analog-to-digital converter 140 convertsanalog radio signal to digital audio signal. The radio receiver 135receives radio transmissions 125 through one or more channels 145. Theradio receiver 135 is a radio frequency receiver for receiving the radiotransmission 125 from the radio transmitter 115. The one or morechannels 145 are data parameters defining the channel through which theradio receiver 135 receives the radio transmission 125. The dataparameters control or change the frequency monitored by the radioreceiver 135. The one or more channels 145 are identified with aspeaker, such as an athlete.

The speech recognition unit 160 includes a software program fortranslating spoken words to text. The speech recognition unit 160 may bean automatic speech recognition program. The speech recognition unit 160converts the digital audio signal into text. The player identificationdetection unit 165 is a software program for determining the identity ofa sports player by the channel associated to each of the one or moreathletes. The catchword detection unit 170 is a software program forrecognizing code words in the speech recognition unit output, whereincode words include catchwords and product words. The catchword detectionunit modifies the speech recognition unit output.

The player data database 175, the catchword database 180, and theproduct insert database 185 may be relational databases such asMicrosoft Access or Microsoft SQL Server or flat files, such ascomma-separated value text files, where the flat files are compatiblewith applications such as Microsoft Office applications. The player datadatabase 175 is a database of player speech data produced by the textprocessing application 155. The player data database 175 is a relationaldatabase with one or more data tables. Each of the one or more playerdata database data tables contains the speech recognition unit outputand metadata associated with the speech recognition unit output. Thecatchword database 180 is a database of catchwords provided to thecatchword detection unit 170. Each of the one or more catchword databasedata tables contains catchwords used to modify the text data. Theproduct insert database 185 is a database of product words and sponsoredwords, wherein the sponsored words are associated with product words andthe sponsored words are used to replace associated product words in thetext data.

FIG. 2 illustrates database tables 200 in the player data database 175,the catchword database 180, and the product insert database 185. Theprocessing unit 130 uses the player data database data table 210 toorganize text speech data. The player data database table 210 organizestext data 225 according to time 215 and player identification 220. Thetimestamp for each text data record corresponds to when the system 100created the text data record. Player identification 220 provides theidentity of the speaker associated with the text data record. The playeridentification 220 can be the name of the sports player, the jerseynumber of the sports player, the channel identification associated withthe speaker, or the frequency associated with the speaker. The speechrecognition unit 160 outputs the text data 225.

The processing unit uses the catchword database 180 to modify textspeech data. The catchword database table 230 includes product words235, censor words 240, key words 245, and code words 250. The processingunit modifies the text speech data to remove censor words 240 listed inthe database. Censor words 240 include obscene language and contentprohibited by government agencies (such as the Federal CommunicationsCommission). The processing unit modifies the text speech data toreplace product words 235 with corresponding sponsored words 265 listedin the product insert table 255. Product words 235 include specificproducts, words associated with specific brands, or words associatedwith specific products. The processing unit further modifies the textspeech data to emphasize key words 245 listed in the database. Key wordsinclude interjections and words that convey excitement. The processingunit routes modified speech data for output through social mediaaccording to code words 250 listed in the database. Code words 250include words associated with posting messages to particular socialmedia forums, as well as words indicating the beginning and end ofmessages.

The processing unit uses the product insert database 185 to modify textspeech data. The product insert database table 255 includes productwords 235 and sponsor words 265. The processing unit modifies the textspeech data to replace product words 235 listed in the database withsponsored words 265 listed in the database. Product words 235 includespecific products, words associated with specific brands, or wordsassociated with specific products. Sponsored words 265 include wordsassociated with advertising, endorsements, or promotional deals, as wellas words for specific brands or marketing campaigns.

FIG. 3 illustrates a method 300 for processing speech data. The methodbegins at block 305, where the radio receiver 135 receives the radiotransmission 125. The radio receiver 135 may receive radio transmissions125 through multiple channels, and wherein the channels may bepredefined and changed. At block 315, the radio receiver processes theradio transmission 125 using the analog-to-digital converter 140 toconvert the radio transmission 125 into digital audio signal. At block320, the text processing application 155 uses the speech recognitionunit 160 to convert the digital audio signal to text data. The textprocessing application 155 may use a standard input/output stream. Atblock 310, the text processing application 155 uses the digital audiosignal 150 and channel 145 information to identify the player. Theplayer identification unit 165 then associates the text data with aplayer based on player information associated with the channel. Theplayer identification unit 165 can compare the frequency of the digitalaudio signal with information regarding each player and the channelassociated with each player. The text processing application 155 storesthe text data produced by the speech recognition unit 160, playeridentity data produced by the player identification detection unit 165,and the current time in the player data database 175. At block 325, thetext processing application 155 uses the catchword detection unit 170 toexamine the text data for words stored in the catchword database 180 andproduct insert database 185 and process the text data according to thedetected words. The method goes back to block 305 if the text data doesnot include code words used to route the text data for output throughsocial media. If the text data includes one or more code words used toroute the text data for output through social media, the method moves toblock 330. The text processing application 155 can use a loop constructto compare each word of the text data to the code words 250. At block330, the text processing application 155 extracts the text data foroutput. The text processing application 155 can select a series of wordsfor extraction based on the code word used and the location of the codeword. The text processing application 155 can select a series of wordsor characters starting with a code word 250 and a ending with code word250. The text processing application can also select a series of wordsor characters between a first occurrence of a code word 250 and a secondoccurrence of a code word 250 in the text data. At block 335, the textprocessing application outputs the text data together with the playeridentification for publication through social media.

FIG. 4 illustrates a method 400 for processing text data. The methodbegins at block 410, where catchword detection unit 170 examines arecord from the player database table 210.

At block 415, the catchword detection unit determines whether the textdata contains censored words 240 listed in the catchword database table230. The catchword detection unit can compare each word in the recordwith each censored word 240 listed in the catchword database table 230.

If the text data does not contain censored words 240, the methodcontinues to block 408. If the text data contains censored words 240listed in the catchword database table 230, the method continues toblock 420. At block 420, censored words contained in the text data arereplaced with redacted text or a placeholder. The method then continuesto block 425.

At block 425, the catchword detection unit determines whether the textdata contains product words 235 listed in the catchword database table230. The catchword detection unit can compare each word in the recordwith each product word 235 listed in the catchword database table 230.

If the text data does not contain product words 235, the methodcontinues to block 435. If the text data contains product words 235listed in the catchword database table 230, the method continues toblock 430. At block 430, product words contained in the text data arereplaced with sponsored words listed in the product insert table 255.The method then continues to block 435.

At block 435, the catchword detection unit determines whether the textdata contains key words 245 listed in the catchword database table 230.The catchword detection unit can compare each word in the record witheach key word 245 listed in the catchword database table 230.

If the text data does not contain key words 245, the method continues toblock 445. If the text data contains key words 245 listed in thecatchword database table 230, the method continues to block 440. Atblock 440, key words contained in the text data are emphasized in thetext data. The text processing application may insert markup languageformatting commands before and after each key word to emphasize the keyword. The method then continues to block 445.

At block 445, the processing unit 130 uploads the text data to theinternet server 190 via the Internet 195. The processing unit 130 canupload the text data using a content submission application programminginterface (API) provided by an operator of the internet server 190 toallow for direct publishing to a social media website. At block 450, thecatchword detection unit increments to the next record in the playerdatabase table 210 and repeats the method, beginning again at block 304.

While various embodiments have been described above, it should beunderstood that they have been presented by way of example only, and notlimitation. The present descriptions are not intended to limit the scopeof the presently claimed invention or to limit the scope of embodimentsof the presently claimed invention. The present descriptions areintended to cover alternatives, modifications, and equivalentsconsistent with the spirit and scope of the disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for publishing audio speech as textsocial media messages using code words, the method comprising: receivingaudio signals from a plurality of wearable devices worn by a pluralityof users each speaking a plurality of code words, wherein the wearabledevice includes: a microphone that captures the code words spoken by theuser as audio signals, and a radio transmitter that transmits the audiosignals to a processing unit that includes a radio receiver, wherein thetransmitted audio signals are assigned to different radio transmissionchannels each having data parameters that control a frequency monitoredby the radio receiver, and wherein each channel is assigned to adifferent user; executing instructions stored in memory by a processorof the processing unit, the instructions executed to: identify the userassociated with the received audio signal based on the radiotransmission channel used to transmit the received audio signal, convertthe received audio signal into a digital record comprising correspondingtext data, wherein the text data record is assigned a unique timestamp,and identify that the digital text data record assigned the uniquetimestamp includes the plurality of code words based on matching to textstored within a database associated with the identified user, whereinthe plurality of code words identified within the text data recordassigned the unique timestamp includes: a first matching code word thatmarks a beginning of a social media message to be published within theconverted text of the text data record, a second matching code word thatmarks an end of the social media message to be published within theconverted text of the text data record, and a third matching code wordthat authorizes publication of a portion of the text data record definedby the first and the second matching code word as a social media messagevia a corresponding social media server tied to the third matching codeword; and generating a social media message to be published on thecorresponding social media server based on the identification of thethird code word within the converted text data record, wherein themessage includes the portion of the converted text data recordassociated with the first and the second code word, and wherein thegenerated social media message is associated with the identified user.2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: comparing the portion ofthe digital text data record associated with the first and the secondcode word with one or more databases that includes special terms; andmodifying the portion of the digital text data record based on thecomparison.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the special terms includespecific words to be censored from the social media message.
 4. Themethod of claim 3, wherein modification of the converted text datarecord that includes one or more censored words is performed byredacting the converted text data record.
 5. The method of claim 3,wherein modification of the converted text data record that includes oneor more censored words is performed by replacing the censored words witha placeholder.
 6. The method of claim 2, wherein the special termsinclude specific key words to be emphasized in the social media message.7. The method of claim 6, wherein the emphasis of the specific key wordsin the social media message is provided via markup language formattingcommands.
 8. The method of claim 2, wherein the special terms includesponsored terms associated with a particular product or promotionalmessage to be included in the social media message.
 9. The method ofclaim 1, wherein identification of the user associated with the receivedaudio includes comparing the received audio against a database thatincludes information about a plurality of different users.
 10. A systemfor publishing audio speech as text social media messages using codewords, the system comprising: a wearable device worn by a user thatincludes: a microphone that captures audio signals based on the userspeaking a plurality of code words, and a radio transmitter thattransmits the received audio signals to a processing unit that includesa radio receiver, wherein the transmitted audio signals are assigned todifferent radio transmission channels each having data parameters thatcontrol a frequency monitored by the radio receiver, and wherein eachchannel is assigned to a different user; a processing unit that includesinstructions stored in memory, the instructions executed by theprocessor to: identify the user associated with the received audiosignal based on the radio transmission channel used to transmit thereceived audio signal, convert the received audio signal into a digitalrecord comprising corresponding text data, wherein the text data recordis assigned a unique timestamp, and identify that the digital text datarecord assigned the unique timestamp includes the plurality of codewords based on matching to text stored within a database associated withthe identified user, wherein the plurality of code words identifiedwithin the text data record assigned the unique timestamp includes: afirst matching code word that marks a beginning of a social mediamessage to be published within the converted text of the text datarecord, a second matching code word that marks an end of the socialmedia message to be published within the converted text of the text datarecord, and a third matching code word that authorizes publication of aportion of the text data record defined by the first and the secondmatching code word as a social media message via a corresponding socialmedia server tied to the third matching code word; and a communicationinterface that generates a social media message to be published on thecorresponding social media server based on the identification of thethird code word within the converted text data record, wherein themessage includes the portion of the converted text data recordassociated with the first and the second code word, and wherein thegenerated social media message is associated with the identified user.11. The system of claim 10, wherein the processor further: compares theportion of the digital text data record associated with the first andthe second code word with one or more databases that includes specialterms; and modifies the portion of the digital text data record based onthe comparison.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the special termsinclude specific words to be censored from the social media message. 13.The system of claim 12, wherein modification of the converted text datarecord that includes one or more censored words is performed byredacting the converted text data record.
 14. The system of claim 12,wherein modification of the converted text data record that includes oneor more censored words is performed by replacing the censored words witha placeholder.
 15. The system of claim 11, wherein the special termsinclude specific key words to be emphasized in the social media message.16. The system of claim 15, wherein the emphasis of the specific keywords in the social media message is provided via markup languageformatting commands.
 17. The system of claim 11, wherein the specialterms include sponsored terms associated with a particular product orpromotional message to be included in the social media message.
 18. Thesystem of claim 10, wherein identification of the user associated withthe received audio includes comparing the received audio against adatabase that includes information about a plurality of different users.